KEAAU — The crowd at Cougars Stadium hardly had time to sit down after the rendition of Hawaii Ponoi when Chenoa Frederick and Saydee Aganus struck.
Aganus assumed her preordained place at the top of the hurdling podium Saturday, while Frederick dazzled with a promise never seen before in Hawaii girls triple jumping.
HHSAA title aspirations will have to wait for Kamehameha, but Aganus and Frederick got a record-breaking day at the state track and field championships off to a raucous start.
“I’m happy, excited, tired, all at the same time,” Aganus said.
The junior claimed her first state gold by winning the 100-meter hurdles in 14.11 seconds, breaking the meet record previously held by Hawaii Prep’s Emma Taylor, a seven-time state hurdling champion.
Even before the track finals started, Frederick, a freshman, drew oohs and ahhs from the crowd, flashing a big smile after a leap of 39 feet, 4 inches in her first attempt in the triple jump.
“My coaches told me if I broke 38 they would buy me a prime rib dinner,” she said. “I was thinking prime rib.”
And she was thinking about feeding a lot of faces.
Her first jump smashed the state championship mark, but Frederick was just getting started, soaring 39-10 in her next attempt.
“They told me if I hit a 40, it would be prime rib dinner for the team,” Frederick said.
That chase will have to wait for next season, but Frederick maintained the BIIF’s stranglehold in the event. Kamehameha Casey Poe (2014), Hilo’s Mehana Sabado-Halpern (2015) and Waiakea’s Kadara Marshall (2016) won the past three years at states.
Both Kamehameha athletes made the quick turnaround in the 100, with Frederick taking silver behind Kaiser’s Kristen O’Handley, who nearly became the first Hawaii girl to break 12 seconds in the event. Aganus was fifth.
“I’m not going to lie, they had a really good race,” Aganus said. (O’Handley) is amazing.”
She came back and took bronze in the 300 hurdles.
“It was so bad,” she said. “I was dead.”
Frederick felt the same way during the last meters yards when she started to cramp up in the 400, but she gutted it out to take bronze behind O’Handley.
“My mom made me a good luck charm,” she said. “I’ve been having cramping issues since soccer season finished, but I have this ti leaf bracelet.
“It’s supposed to collect the mana from all of my ancestors, and it’s a way for me to call out to them and help me finish my races and stay strong and stay safe.”
O’Handley, a senior, pocketed four golds, also winning the high jump and 200.
The Cougars (69.50 points) were second behind Seabury Hall (74). Ava Shipman won all three distance races for the Spartans. Kamehameha was third (53).
“Next year, possibly,” Frederick said.
Practice?
Practice may make perfect, but so does a good arm.
A standout softball player, Kamehameha’s Taylor Sullivan had an excused absence to miss all of the Warriors’ throwing practices during the regular season. Taylor missed the BIIF track and field championships last week as the Warriors softball team was on Oahu for states, but she did make two meets during the season, allowing her to compete at Keaau.
“This whole week, I’ve been personally practicing with my dad at the HPA track, and I went to three practices at our campus,” Sullivan said.
Sixth in the shot put Friday, Sullivan entered Saturday’s discus as the sixth seed, and after qualifying for the final, she unleashed a personal-best toss of 124 feet, 7 inches, that stayed in bounds and earned her a bronze.
“I threw it and I watched it and I thought it was going to be a scratch,” she said, “and then it tailed in and I said, “Thank you.”
In middle school, Sullivan earned acclaim by winning a softball throwing contest at a Hershey’s meet.
“I think if I put more than a week of practice in than I probably could do better,” Sullivan said. “I’m just glad I have the opportunity to do both.”
